Your Instagram pictures could end up in an art gallery — without your permission

Those Instagram users who have their accounts set to “private” might just be on to something.

As BoingBoing reports, Instagram celeb and CEO of Lime Crime Cosmetics Doe Deere recently attended the gallery showing of artist Richard Prince, in which she saw that he had blown up several Instagram shots, including a photo of Doe’s, and was selling these pieces without the permission of the Instagram users.

In a super-meta move, Doe Instagrammed a shot of her Instagram-for-sale:

And gave the post the following caption:

“Figured I might as well post this since everyone is texting me. Yes, my portrait is currently displayed at the Frieze Gallery in NYC. Yes, it’s just a screenshot (not a painting). No, I did not give my permission and yes, the controversial artist Richard Prince put it up anyway. It’s already sold ($90K I’ve been told) during the VIP preview. No, I’m not gonna go after him. And nope, I have no idea who ended up with it! 😳 #lifeisstrange#modernart#wannabuyaninstagrampicture”

The reason “controversial artist” Richard Prince is so controversial is because the dude has a history of “appropriating” other people’s works (he’s been doing this since the 1970’s) and making a tidy profit off of the practice. Prince has been taken to court before for his appropriation, but has always won his cases because his work falls under “fair use,” a copyright law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring the permission of rights holders.

Here’s a peek at what all those Instagrams look like on a gallery wall:

We admit, Instagram looks rad as gallery art, but we’re not super cool with someone making a bunch of money off of someone else’s Instas. So where do we fall on the issue? To quote the Instagram-appropriated Doe Deere, #lifeisstrange. Life is #veryveryverystrange.